Jaunts of the Mantis

by Jim Henderson

  “What about missiles?”

  “Missiles fired at this range would not catch us. They would make relative progress against our velocity but would likely run out of thrust and then could not catch up.”

  An alarm chimed and Iday said, “They’re testing that. The ship just launched 2 missiles and one of the shuttles just increased its burn.”

  Ximon said, “Elsbeth, if you can kick the maneuver drive and give us any more thrust that’d be great.”

  Elsbeth said shortly, “There’s not much more it can give. If we try, it could damage her.”

  They sped on, receding from the planet, pulling away from the enemy ship and its shuttle #1, but with the missiles blazing rapidly toward them and the shuttle #2 making headway against them.

  The missiles continued their acceleration for about 15 minutes and started to get worrisome.

  Iday said, “Captain, those must be extra long-range missiles. They’re still closing. Intercept in 10 minutes if they continue.”

  But shortly thereafter, the missiles did run out of gas and could thrust no more. Since Mantis continued to thrust, it pulled away and the missiles just continued an impotent flight behind them.

  Iday then said, “That shuttle is still gaining ground, but it has a long way to go. I’m scanning it.”

  After a few minutes he said, “It looks like a 30-ton ship’s boat. It’s hitting us with active sensors, so there’s a good bet it’s got some kind of weapons.”

  Ximon said, “I wouldn’t expect it would be following us without its buddies if it didn’t. Keep that chaff thrower ready.”

  “It’s turned into a direct stern chase – he’s directly after of us and burning hard to catch us. If he’s got lasers, he could be in range within 2 minutes.”

  “OK, keep chaff between him and us.”

  “Firing now” and Iday started firing the chaff thrower.

  Alarms then flared and Mantis said, “We have been hit by a beam laser. I see very minor hull damage. However, repeated hits or chance hits could damage key components or the engines.”

  Iday said, “He’s firing at extreme range, but he’s getting closer.”

  Ximon said, “Elsbeth, any issues back there?”

  “No, but if we take a hit on the engines, they’ll likely crap out or start sputtering.”

  “Roger. Hey, do we have any loose crates in the cargo bay?”

  Elsbeth, “Sure, we’ve got a few empties. But what you’re thinking won’t work, they’d just burn up in our plume.”

  “Not if there ain’t no plume.”

  Elsbeth, “Ximon this is a real bad idea.”

  “Noted but get on that arm and get the crates in position. Tell me when you’re ready.”

  Iday, interjected, “They are almost exactly aft of us and they’re certainly making no effort to evade.”

  The enemy shuttle fired a few more times over the next few minutes, but most of it was diffracted by chaff and Mantis took no real damage.

  After a couple minutes, Elsbeth said, “It’s ready, but I still say this is a bad idea.”

  Ximon said, “Great, now everyone, get ready. Elsbeth, open the rear cargo hatch. Right after they fire next, I’ll say, ‘go.’ Then, I’ll cut our burn, Iday you’ll fire more chaff as a distraction, and Elsbeth you’ll turn off the mags holding the crates down and nudge them with the arm if you have to. Be ready!”

  Alerts came on as Mantis registered the rear cargo catch opened.

  A few seconds later Iday said, “They’ve fired again and missed.”

  Ximon yelled, “Cutting burn. Go, go, go!”

  Iday fired several shots of sand as fast as he could. The ‘chaff’ went out in canisters and it didn’t explode and spread right away, so it was a few seconds before the chaff canisters opened. In that time, sensors noted 2 crates away and a few seconds later a large one and a smaller one away. All tumbled as they floated behind the ship.

  Elsbeth said, “Closing hatch.”

  They then waited a few tense seconds.

  Mantis noted, “Shuttle is attempting to maneuver to avoid crates but is intercepting the containers too fast. In 3-2-1.”

  Iday said, “I see it, the shuttle hit at least one large crate.”

  Ximon then hit full burn again and started evading, juking and jiving up, down, left, and right, “Let’s see what effect that had.”

  Iday said, “I can’t tell anything on scanners, but I’m not seeing their active scanners on line.”

  They flew on for tense seconds. The shuttle fired again but missed entirely. It tried again several more times but continued to miss.

  After few minutes of feeble attempts, the shuttle cut its thrust and soon started receding behind them with the rest of the bad guys.

  Mantis, “The shuttle has cut its thrust and appears to be maneuvering slightly, about 20 degrees off an intercept course …”

  As they watched over the next 30 minutes or so, the ship and its shuttles, now way in the distance huddled back up and turned away.

  Ximon said, “Continuing 3G until we increase the range. Good work everyone. Catch your breath. 5 hours to jump point.”

  Ximon cut the thrust after about 45 minutes with no signs of the UI ship pursuing.

  “Iday, you have the con, keep her steady to the jump point. Mantis, alert me if you see them come this way on long-range sensors.”

  “Roger, Captain.”

  The Ximon announced, “You can unbuckle if you need to get around, pick up your area, stretch your legs, or hit the head. But be ready in case we need to burn again.”

  Ximon went back to the galley and found Raiza headed for their room.

  “Raiza, how are you? Let me help you.”

  “Thank you Ximon. I am fully functional but need to repair this tear in my skin covering.”

  They got to their room and Ximon helped her unclothe to reveal a nasty tear in the skin along the front of her left leg. Ximon examined it closely. It didn’t appear that any actuators, sensors, or pneumatics were damaged. Had she been human, she would have lost a lot of blood and there would have been a chance of a bleed out from a nick to the femoral artery.

  Then Ximon applied the special resin and skin graft/patch kit to repair the tear, tenderly spreading the gel and smoothing the edges.

  “I’m so glad you’re ok.” Then he hugged her tightly, avoiding the repair, for a few minutes while the patch dried completely. “How’s that?”

  “I appreciate your help and your comfort Ximon. You have healed me. I am yours.”

  “Oh, you cheeky minx,” and pinched her buttock. “Let’s wait a bit for that. Why don’t you get on some untorn clothes, make sure there’s nothing else loose in the galley, and then join us on the bridge.”

  “Happily, Ximon. I believe that the crew would benefit from some food and beverages as well. I will provide some before I join you on the bridge.”

  After a pit stop Ximon was back on the bridge and relieved Iday. Raiza arrived about 5 minutes later and gave him his favorite sandwich and drink and kissed him on the cheek. Then she strapped in to sensor operator seat.

  Ximon said, “Elsbeth, how’s everything looking back there?”

  She said snarkily, “Well, you don’t appear to have destroyed anything, despite your best efforts. Everything looks good to jump. As soon as we do, I’m taking a long, hot shower, and a long nap – I got banged up pretty good.”

  “Do you need medical assistance?”

  “No, you can keep the ‘nurse’ to yourself. I’m mainly just sore.”

  After a little while Ximon announced, “Jumping to the Zulea system in 5 minutes.”

  Then, they jumped, and everything seemed to go OK. They were in the silence of jump.

  “Again, good work everyone. Take a good long break.”

  “Mantis, alert me of any issues. I’ll be in my room.”

  He took Raiza by the hand and led her toward their room, whispering in her ear, “Now about that spanking …” and swatte
d her butt playfully.

  She replied in a sultry voice, “Yes, Ximon, I’ve been a very bad girl.”

  The entire jump was quiet. Ximon rested, studied, and fretted over whether this jump would be OK. Iday did his quiet study in his room and occasionally made some meals for everyone. Some items he made were a bit too hot for Elsbeth’s tastes, but Ximon enjoyed most of it. Elsbeth fixed up some stuff that had been impacted in the frantic battle and kept fine tuning things. Raiza kept them all well fed and Ximon happy. In addition to other pastimes, Raiza was fairly skilled at several board or computer games that Ximon enjoyed. A couple times they got Elsbeth and/or Iday to join them and all seemed to enjoy it.

  Finally, on Day 6 Mantis noted, “Captain, assuming all worked as intended, we should exit jump to the Zulea system in 8 hours.”

  Jaunt 4: Zulea

  Ximon was tracking that but appreciated the reminder. He ate and got to the bridge 4 hours early just in case. Then he sat and waited. Nothing odd happened and they came out of jump as planned. By that time both Iday and Eslbeth had joined him on the bridge and Raiza was using the handholds at the back of the bridge.

  The stars reappeared and their inertia returned as normal.

  Ximon said, “Mantis, do a 360 scan for any obstacles or vessels. Iday, get a position check. Elsbeth, run through the systems panel.” Ximon then scanned around visually and with sensors behind them. It looked all clear.

  Mantis answered first, “No obstacles or vessels are noted within 10,000 km. There are some meteors at 30,000 km, but they are not on an intercept course. Nearest planet is 2.1 Mkm sunward.”

  Iday added, “2-stars, Zulea. Checking 3 stars.” He was getting better at this.

  Mantis added, “Confirmed Zulea with 2 stars.”

  Then Elsbeth, “I’m seeing green across the board.”

  Ximon breathed a sigh of relief. “Glad to be where we’re supposed to be. Thanks everyone and, Iday, thank that god of yours.”

  Iday replied, “I always do.”

  Mantis continued, “The planet 2.1 Mkm sunward is Zulea Decats. It is 4.1 Bkm to the station at Zulea Prima, the 3rd planet. There is a dwarf planet, Zulea Sub 1, 0.3 Mkm sunward.“

  Ximon turned to Elsbeth, “Oh crap, we’re outside some of the dwarfs. Let me guess, all those adjustment parameters you gave us for the jump were safety factors, causing us to wind up as far from the sun as humanly possible.”

  “What did you expect, we’d just misjumped, we’ve got a bad coil, and I had to work to compensate to even make a jump remotely safe. Would you rather adjust to closer to the sun … LIKE IN IT!?!?”

  Mantis then interjected, “Captain, I’m detecting a vessel at 150 Kkm antisunward.”

  Ximon pondered, “What’s anyone but us doing way out here? Iday, scan it. Mantis, plot it’s vector.”

  Then he hailed, “UI Vessel, this is KSS Survey Craft Mantis on a survey mission. Please ID and state your purpose.”

  Raiza said, “Captain, are we technically on a survey mission at this time?”

  “Perhaps not technically, we’re on a pay-our-way-home mission. However, we’re scouts so we’re kind of always on a survey mission.”

  “Understood, Captain. Thank you for the clarification.”

  Mantis, “Captain, I have plotted its vector. Its slow path is almost directly perpendicular to the sunward path.”

  Ximon, “Interesting.” Then more to himself, “What’s he up to? Hopping from one dwarf to another?”

  Iday said, “I don’t believe he’s up to anything. I’m detecting virtually no power readings, no transponder, and no scanners, active or passive. She might be dead. She’s appears to be a 400-ton medium freighter.”

  “Interesting. Let’s check it out. Mantis, give me an intercept course.”

  Mantis plotted a course to take them to within 1km of the vessel.

  “Captain, the plotted 1G intercept course will take us to a matching course 1km from the vessel, ETA 50 minutes.”

  “Roger, 50 minutes to intercept. Iday, keep scanning as we get closer. Mantis, get all the imagery we can.”

  In about 30 minutes Iday added, “Very minor power readings and no life signs so far. I’m assuming no atmosphere and no gravity.”

  As they continued closer Ximon stated, “Matching course and speed. Mantis, put visual on main screen.”

  A large image of the apparently dead vessel appeared. It was approximately 4 times the size of the Mantis and was clearly designed for cargo but mounted several weapons. It had several sizable, ragged holes spread along the hull.

  “Elsbeth, what do you make of those holes?”

  “Hard to say. Looks like meteor strikes to me, but I guess they could be some kind of physical projectile. Iday, what do you think?”

  Iday, “I would tend to agree. They don’t look like laser blasts, but we’d have to get closer to be sure.”

  Ximon, “I think that’s exactly what we’re going to have to do. Elsbeth, do you see any issue docking with it?”

  “No, the airlocks look standard. The doors might be locked, but we should be able to get past that.”

  “OK, then, beginning docking maneuver, port airlock. All 3 of you go start suiting up and grab weapons and tools. Make sure your mag boots are engaged. I’ll join you as soon as we’re docked.”

  The maneuver went flawlessly, and the airlocks mated up nicely.

  Ximon, “I’m showing a green connection here.”

  Elsbeth, “Showing green here, but we need to button up.”

  “Roger, seal up and check each other. Elsbeth, get that door open. Video everything.”

  “Naturally. I tried knocking but got no response. Working on the key pad now.”

  Ximon, “Mantis, once I get in, keep our airlock closed unless one of us signals you. Continue to monitor the vessel and the general environment and signal me with any issues.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  Elsbeth got the door open before Ximon was ready so the 3 of them stepped in and started scouting the immediate area.

  Elsbeth radioed, “Ok, looks like we’re in the passenger quarters area, starting in the aft. No lights, no air, no gravity. Starting to look in the cabins. Moving from aft toward what should be the bridge.”

  A few seconds later Iday added, “Port 1 clear.” They proceed down the hallway, alternating who checked each room.

  At Starboard 2, Elsbeth Groaned, “Crap, I didn’t need to see that. We’ve got a floater in Starboard 2. Looks like explosive decompression.”

  At Port 3, Raiza said, “We have 2 bodies in Port 3. Apparent decompression.”

  Shortly thereafter Elsbeth added, “I see the reason. Looks like a hull breach just before the next bulkhead.”

  They then reached the escape pods. All 6 were there, but there was a dead body in the sealed pod 5.

  Iday said, “Looks like this guy got in the pod but the damage had prevented it from firing. Apparent suffocation.”

  By this time Ximon had joined them as they got to the bulkhead door.

  Iday checked it with his hand scanner, “There’s apparently some atmosphere on the other side.”

  So, they went forward, letting out some very stale atmosphere as they did so. Here there were 5 more rooms, apparently crew quarters. They found no bodies in the quarters. They also found 3 more escape pods and an empty escape pod rack. So, someone had apparently gotten off the ship. But 2 of the pods were smashed as if someone had attacked them.

  Then they proceeded to the bridge. They knocked and got no reply. When they entered the bridge, they again vented trace oxygen. In the bridge, they found 2 bodies in vacc suits at their stations.

  Ximon said, “Looks like they used this as their last stand. This section of the ship wasn’t exposed to vacuum, but maybe the air recyclers crapped out. Then they got in vacc suits until that oxygen died.”

  Elsbeth said, “Looks like. I’ve got several expended tanks here. They might have been in their suits for 8-10 hours.”

&nbs
p; “Probably trying to save her somehow. Ok, let’s move down to the cargo deck.”

  They all climbed down the hatch to the fore cargo deck. The entire cargo area appeared to be vacuum and they found several hull breaches. The hold was full of a variety of crates and they found 2 bodies floating about, victims of decompression.

  They checked the bay where the ship’s launch was stored. It didn’t look damaged but looked like it had been in the middle of maintenance when the maintainers died.

  They searched a few small storage rooms off the cargo bay. No bodies, but in one they found 4 empty cryogenic (cryo) chambers.

  Cryo Chamber: Small, simple, and robust cryogenic chambers used on board ships. They have several uses:

  1) They allow gravely sick or injured personnel to be frozen until the ship reaches good medical facilities and then unfrozen for good medical care.

  2) They allow low-paying passengers to be frozen and then easily unfrozen after a trip. A common space travelling maxim says, “There ain’t no passenger less trouble than a frozen passenger.”

  3) They allow passengers on long-duration voyages to be frozen for the duration, so they do not age. This usage was more common before the jump drive was developed as back then interstellar travel took many years.

  They went back to engineering.

  Port engineering had taken a direct hit and there was some damage to both the port power plant and maneuver drive. Starboard engineering had also taken a hit, with 2 dead floating and damage to the maneuver drive. The power plant, however, was operating at a minimal level and some of the monitoring stations were functioning. Elsbeth spent a couple minutes doing some checks.

  “Wow! This happened about 5 months ago, and it looks like the universe decided to really bend them over that day. I think they mis-jumped here and then almost immediately took serious damage with multiple hull breaches. Probably a meteor swarm. They probably came out of jump early, so they weren’t ready for regular space. Their starboard fuel tank is low, and the port is dry. So, they probably arrived with just maneuver fuel and then had a tank punctured. It looks like the starboard maneuver drive was knocked offline right away and the port damaged. That might have been usable, but they likely couldn’t feed fuel from the starboard fuel tank. Logs make it look they were trying to just use thrusters to adjust course until damage to power couplers knocked those off line. I don’t see why more escape pods weren’t used, but I’m betting a power junction was hit and they lost hydraulic pressure, so couldn’t fire. And their launch was down for maintenance. Like I said, they were screwed about as bad as you can be all at once.”